The Danger of Computer Games
by beenieweenie
Summary: An interesting little short. Set post-season 7. Buffy finds herself in a very strange situation.


Disclaimer:  I don't own and BtVS caharacters or  plots and I don't own Jardinains.  All of these things belong to other people, not me.

The Danger of Computer Games

            Buffy was back in Sunnydale, heading home from patrol.  It had been boring tonight and no vamps or other bad guys had been around.  Buffy sighed, she wanted to beat something up and there was nothing around.  Buffy passed through the sleeping Sunnydale quickly and was soon in her own backyard.  As soon as she stepped into the kitchen her slayer-sense went off.  A creepy giggle filled the silence of her house.  She moved to arm herself with a knife from the knife stand when she saw her mother and sister sitting on the floor eating Wheatabix.  Joyce looked up first and smiled, "Hey honey!  How was patrol?"

            Buffy gaped at her family, "What are you doing here?  There's some kinda monster in here!!"

            "Duh!" Dawn chimed, "They've been here all night.  We couldn't get upstairs; so we're having a party.  Spike just left to get some marshmallows for the hot chocolate."

            "They've been here all night?  And Spike was here?"  Buffy couldn't believe how careless her mother and sister were being, "You both need to leave!  You could get hurt!"

            From the front hall there came a crashing sound followed by a hoarse shout of "Bloody hell!"  Then Spike came into the kitchen, clutching a bag of Marshmallows.

            "What was that crash?"  Buffy demanded.

            "Potted plant," Spike turned to Dawn and held out the marshmallows, "Sorry Nibblet, they didn't have any mini ones."

            Dawn's eyes lit up and she grabbed the bag, "Ooooh!!  Fluffy bunnies!"

            As she ripped the bag open Buffy picked up a knife from the counter and began to walk towards the front hall.  As she reached the doorway she heard her mother call her name.  Buffy turned to look at Joyce who looked at her seriously, "Be careful, ok?"

            Then Joyce took two of the marshmallows and followed Dawn and Spike's lead and shoved them in her mouth.  Then the three of them chorused, "Fluffy bunnies!" and reached for more marshmallows.  Buffy turned back to the doorway and walked carefully into the hall.

            Her slayer-sense screamed as soon as she stepped into the hall and she dove forward, rolling over the remains of several potted plants.  The crash behind her told Buffy that she'd taken the better option though.  As she rolled up, Buffy turned, knife held at the ready.  A creepy giggle ran through the air and Buffy followed the sound back to its origin, which happened to be a group of foot-tall gnomes.  Everything about the little things gave her a major wiggins; from their grungy clothes to their beady little eyes.  Buffy paused, trying to work out a plan of attack, but the gnomes made their move first.  The group at the top of the stairs came running down and that's when Buffy saw that the group was just the beginning of the horde of gnomes that was upstairs.

            As the gnomes' first ranks started to hit her, Buffy took action. She fought viciously to keep the gnomes away from her.  In the end there were too many of them though, they swarmed over her, covering her completely.  She was drowning in a sea of gnomes, literally.  Buffy started to scream and thrash as she fought for breath.  The she heard Xander yelling her name.

            A pair of hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled Buffy up.  Her eyes snapped open and she kicked off the smothering covers of her bed.  Buffy looked wildly around the room, taking note of Xander standing next to her bed while Willow and Dawn were in the doorway.  No sign of the gnomes and Buffy's heart was pounding a drum solo in her chest.  Buffy looked towards her friends, "Where did they go?"

            "Who?"  Xander was the first to react to her question, but they all looked thoroughly confused by it.  Buffy jumped off of her bed and started searching her room, under the bed, in the closet, the drawers in her dresser.

            "Those creepy little gnomes!  They were everywhere, didn't you see them?"  Buffy kept searching as she pressed her friends for information.

            "Buffy, there weren't any gnomes…you were dreaming," Willow's voice was uncertain.  Buffy stopped her search and looked at Willow, who was in her pajamas, and then at Dawn and Xander, who were similarly dressed.  Then she looked at the room, her room, in their new house in Cleveland.  Then Buffy saw the laptop on her desk and started to laugh wildly.  Her friends looked at each other uncertainly.

            "I-it's ok."  Buffy managed to choke out through her laughter.  After a few minutes she finally got control of herself and stood up, "Let's go get breakfast!"

            Willow and Xander lead the way, but Dawn waited by the door for Buffy, "Are you sure you're ok?"

            Buffy looked at her sister and saw the concern in her eyes.  Then she said, "Yeah, I just learned my lesson not to play five hours of Jardinains right before bed."

            Then Buffy started laughing again, this time Dawn joined in with her, and the two of them went down breakfast.  Inside Buffy's room a third voice joined in the laughter, but this one creepily giggled from underneath the dresser.

Fini

Author's Note:  Jardinains is an actual game and you can get it for free at jardinains.com.  Have fun!


End file.
